New research reveals how specific genetic variants and chronic conditions like depression and fibromyalgia increase the risk of long-COVID, offering insights into potential treatments. Study: Multi-ancestry GWAS of Long COVID identifies immune-related loci and etiological links to chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and depression. Image Credit: Lightspring / Shutterstock *Important notice: medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
In a recent research paper uploaded to the medRxiv preprint* server, researchers at 23andme conducted the largest meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) comprising more than 174,000 participants from ethnically diverse backgrounds, including European, Latinx, and African-American cohorts, to identify genetic loci or phenotypic traits demonstrating an increased risk of long-COVID. Study findings revealed that three specific genetic loci, HLA-DQA1–HLA-DQB1, ABO, and BPTF–KPAN2–C17orf58, and three phenotypes were at significantly heightened risk, highlighting high-priority populations for interventions against this poorly understood disease. Background Long COVID symptoms vary widely, including neurological issues like brain fog and post-exertional malaise, which worsens after mental or physical effort Long-COVID is the condition of prolo.